Viacom's Paramount Comedy Expands Russian Cable Reach

The news today from Viacom International Media Networks should amuse anyone who saw Exporting Raymond — the hilarious 2010 documentary about efforts by tone-deaf Russian producers and actors to develop their own version of Everybody Loves Raymond. VIMN says that its Paramount Comedy channel is about to go out to 4M subscribers of Russia’s largest cable operator, National Cable Networks (NCN). Viacom says that it recently launched Paramount Comedy as an extension of the Moscow-based version of Comedy Central which it describes as a “24-hour, fully-localised and ad-supported premium comedy channel.” Viacom adds that Paramount Comedy has a new agreement enabling it to offer more than 300 hours of comedy programming from Warner Bros International Television Distribution. It includes Russian language dubs of sitcoms including The Big Bang Theory, Two and a Half Men, 2 Broke Girls, and the first six seasons of Friends. VIMN has 18 comedy channels in more than 40 countries outside of the US. The list includes Comedy Central in Latin America, India and Africa; Comedy Central Extra in the Netherlands; and Paramount Comedy in Russia.